To kick off the new year I thought I’d post internet videos that were influential to me (and others) last year. Not all these videos were published in 2011 but that’s when I first watched them. Here they are.

Early last year Republicans proposed legislation that would eliminate abortion funding for rape victims. Jon Stewart made them look pretty foolish on The Daily Show. Wordpress won’t let me embed this video, so click the link below to watch it. You’ll be redirected to The Daily Show website.

ABC has a showed called What Would You Do? This is the first episode I saw which depicts a lesbian couple with their daughter being confronted by their waiter.

Here’s a video by Linda Stay. She relates how she learned her son Tyler is gay and what that experience was like from a Mormon perspective. She goes into more depth on these experiences in the documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition.

Emily Pearson also appeared in 8: The Mormon Proposition. In this video she relates experiences with gay men she was close to and her journey out of the LDS Church.

And of course, no blog authored by a gay man would be complete without a tribute to Lady GaGa. Here are my top videos by the Lord herself. To start, here’s a video by Jonah Mowry that captured Her (capital H-E-R) attention.

Lady GaGa responded to teen suicide possibly more than any other celebrity. She brought these suicides to the attention of officials in the White House. Although she is written off too frequently because of her eccentricity, she’s doing some pretty cool things for LGBTQ youth. Here’s her tribute to Jamey Rodemeyer who committed suicide in 2011.

Here’s a story by ABC about GaGa’s efforts to stop bullying.

Finally, here’s a parody of Lady GaGa’s Edge of Glory reminds me of our commitment ceremony. This was created around the time New York passed gay marriage.

Like this:

Facebook has been abuzz lately because BYU-I banned skinny jeans. Even Jonathan Jones had something to say about it. When I hung out with Jonathan back stage (I know, right) a few years ago he mention Rexburg (i.e., BYU-I) is one of his favorite places to perform.

Jonathan Jones on the BYU-I skin jean controversy.

And just in case you don’t believe that I’ve hung out back stage with Jonathan Jones, here are some pics. I’m famous.

To my left (I'm in the blue hoodie shirt) is Jonathan Jones. Notice the skinny jeans.

Backstage with Jonathan Jones at Utah State University.

Students were encouraged to have a visit with their Heavenly Father regarding their modesty. I’m okay with the ban because the ban on skinny jeans, turns out, wasn’t really a ban, and let’s be honest: a lot of amusing things have been said and created in response to the commotion. Here are some of my favorites.

And this one from… the testing center…? I’m not sure where it came from but it’s been distributed widely on Facebook.

"...will you please go home and prayerfully visit with your Father in Heaven and recommit to...abide by the Honor Code"?

On a serious note, I find it interesting that none of the new reports have indicated whether men are also being kicked out of testing centers for wearing pants that are too tight for God. Perhaps this is another manifestation of sexism at BYU? As one blogger points out, women shouldn’t be held accountable for the thoughts men have (when they see BYU-I girls wearing skinny jeans).

I didn’t think it was possible to accuse BYU of being too liberal in regards to their stance on social issues like homosexuality. I was wrong. Surprisingly, it seems their efforts to fight “the gay movement” were inspired by their experiences with their son when they learned he is gay. But don’t worry, he found the box that’s gay and crushed it (so now he isn’t gay any more).

If you’re not familiar with debates about gay marriage, they usually go something like this:

Gay man: I should have the right to marry.

Straight man: You do. No one is stopping you from marrying a woman.

Gay man: Well, the problem is, I’m not really attracted to women so…

Straight man: So stop complaining. It’s your choice and you choose not to marry a woman.

More direct debates usually go something like this:

Gay man: I should have the right to marry.

Straight person: No you shouldn’t, because if we let you marry who you want, what’s to stop other people from marrying a horse?

Gay man: No comment.

(But really. People actually use this claim to support their arguments against gay marriage).

In celebration of slippery slope arguments (and more), I’d like to share a cartoon and video. The cartoon explains, in the most simple language, the gay marriage debate. For all the duck lovers out there, the video uses very clear logic to demonstrate how the legalization of gay marriage will facilitate Scrooge McDuck fetishes.